ADV-NEWS, South Dakota Democrat Senator in Critical Condition after surgery. Senate Control could be in question.

Sen. Johnson in Critical Condition After Surgery
Control of Chamber Could Be in Question if He Cannot Serve

By Charles Babington, Jonathan Weisman and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 14, 2006; 10:30 AM


Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) underwent emergency surgery overnight to repair
bleeding inside his brain and was "recovering without complication" this
morning, according to the U.S. Capitol physician.

Johnson, 59, who is in the critical care unit at George Washington University
Hospital, fell ill at the Capitol yesterday, introducing a note of uncertainty
over control of the Senate just weeks before Democrats are to take over with a
one-vote margin.

Johnson "was found to have had an intracerebral bleed caused by a congenital
arteriovenous malformation," Adm. John Eisold, attending physician of the U.S.
Capitol, said in a statement issued by the senator's office shortly after 9 a.m.
today. "He underwent successful surgery to evacuate the blood and stabilize the
malformation." Eisold said it was too early to offer a long-term prognosis.

The statement quoted Barbara Johnson, the senator's wife, saying, "The Johnson
family is encouraged and optimistic. They are grateful for the prayers and good
wishes of friends, supporters and South Dakotans.

"They are especially grateful for the work of the doctors and all medical
personnel and GWU hospital."

The two-term senator was rushed to the hospital early yesterday afternoon,
shortly after becoming disoriented during a conference call with news reporters.
He underwent "a comprehensive evaluation by the stroke team," his office said,
and eventually was diagnosed with the brain hemorrhage, the severity of which
has not yet been announced to the public.

Arteriovenous malformations are defects of the circulatory system, essentially
tangles of snarled arteries and veins, according to the National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke. They are believed to develop soon after
birth, or in utero, and in many cases can exist for years -- in the brain or
elsewhere -- causing few, if any, problems.

But for about 12 percent of people with neurological malformations, or an
estimated 36,000 Americans, the abnormalities can cause a wide range of
symptoms, according to a fact sheet posted on the institute's website. They
include severe headaches, seizures, paralysis, memory loss and, in rare cases,
death.

Malformations can damage the brain by depriving it of oxygen, compressing parts
of the brain or spinal cord, or triggering bleeding, or hemorrhaging, through a
combination of high blood pressure and weakness in the vessel walls. If enough
blood escapes from a ruptured malformation into the brain, the result "can be a
catastrophic stroke," the fact sheet said. But aides to Johnson said Wednesday
that the senator had not suffered a stroke.

Johnson's illness -- which sent Senate Democratic leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.)
rushing to the hospital to check on Johnson -- underscored the fragility of
Democrats' hold on the next Senate, which they won by the narrowest of margins
in the Nov. 7 elections. Should Johnson be unable to complete his term, South
Dakota's Republican governor, Michael Rounds, would name a replacement for the
next two years.

With Johnson in office, Democrats would hold a 51-to-49 edge in the Senate that
convenes Jan. 4 as part of the 110th Congress. (The two independents have said
they will caucus with the Democrats.) But if he is to leave office before then
and Rounds replaces him with a Republican, the GOP would control the chamber.

In a 50-50 Senate, Vice President Cheney could break tie votes in the GOP's
favor. But a Senate that becomes evenly split after it is in session would not
necessarily fall to Republicans, Senate historians said. Rules and precedents
could leave a party in charge of the chamber even after its membership falls
below that of the other party.

"It's what happens in January that counts," said Senate associate historian
Donald A. Ritchie, referring to when party leaders hash out rules governing the
chamber's organization.

Rounds's office declined to comment on the situation yesterday except for a
statement from the governor, which offered prayers for Johnson and hope for
"good news for our friend and colleague."

Johnson spokesman Noah Pinegar said the senator "became disoriented" during a
late-morning conference call with reporters, placed from the Capitol's Senate
recording studio. "He had difficulty completing a response to a question,"
Pinegar said, so aides ended the call and walked with him back to Hart Senate
Office Building.

When they arrived, Pinegar said, Johnson "wasn't himself." A team from the
Capitol physician's office quickly arrived and sent the senator to the hospital
by ambulance. Johnson's wife, Barbara, was with him at the hospital as tests
were being conducted last night, Pinegar said.

Reid spent much of the afternoon and evening with Johnson's family at the
hospital, said spokesman Jim Manley. He would not comment on Johnson's
condition.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader's Web site said that Rep. Stephanie Herseth
(D-S.D.) asked constituents to pray for Johnson and that she said she thought
Johnson had suffered a severe stroke. But that was before Johnson's staff had
ruled out a stroke.

The only time that partisan control of the Senate changed in mid-session,
historians say, was in 2001. Republicans began the year controlling the 50-50
chamber with Cheney's tie-breaking vote. But Democrats, mindful of the recent
sudden death of Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.), were aware they could be a
heartbeat away from the majority.

In order to adopt new rules organizing the Senate, the two parties must reach
nearly unanimous agreement. Democrats in 2001 blocked the naming of committee
chairmen and members, demanding concessions before agreeing to the rules. Among
those concessions: Should the numerical advantage change, all committee
assignments and chairmanships would be nullified, and a new organization would
have to be submitted.

That's what happened, not because of a death but because disgruntled moderate
Republican Sen. James M. Jeffords (Vt.) decided to caucus with the Democrats,
giving them a 51-49 edge and the powers of the majority. Senate Republican
sources said yesterday that their party is likely to press for similar
concessions when negotiating the operating rules for the next Congress. But even
if Johnson were incapacitated, Democratic aides say, they would resist.

A different scenario unfolded in 1954, after the deaths and replacements of
several senators over two years. Republicans remained the majority party even
though Democrats eventually outnumbered them, 48 to 47, with one independent.
Democratic leader Lyndon B. Johnson did not challenge the GOP's control, in
part, historians said, because the independent, Wayne L. Morse of Oregon, warned
that he would caucus with the Republicans if need be. That would have led to a
48-48 chamber, and Vice President Richard M. Nixon would have broken the tie in
Republicans' favor.

Tim Johnson has a quiet demeanor and low profile in Washington, but he won two
impressive Senate victories. As a House member in 1996, he ousted GOP Sen. Larry
Pressler, then chairman of the Commerce Committee.

Six years later, Johnson managed a 524-vote win over Republican John Thune.
Thune returned two years later to defeat Thomas A. Daschle, the Senate
Democratic leader, in a costly, closely watched election.

Thune had attacked Johnson for voting against the Persian Gulf War resolution in
January 1991. When Congress in 2002 debated authorizing Bush to invade Iraq,
Johnson announced he would vote aye.

In a floor speech, he said: "There is a strong possibility that I may be voting
to send my own son into combat, and that gives me special empathy for the
families of other American service men and women whose own sons and daughters
may also be sent to Iraq. Nevertheless, I am willing to cast this vote -- one of
the most important in my career both as a senator and certainly as a father --
because I recognize the threat that Saddam Hussein represents to world peace."

The senator's son, Staff Sgt. Brooks Johnson, was stationed in Afghanistan and
Iraq before becoming an Army recruiter in Illinois.

Given Johnson's narrow reelection win over Thune, and South Dakota's GOP tilt --
Bush carried the state by 22 percentage points in 2004 -- Republicans consider
Johnson one of their top targets in the 2008 Senate elections.

The leading candidate to oppose him is Rounds, who was reelected to a second
term last month. Johnson had previously committed to seeking a third term.
Should he not run, Democrats probably would turn first to Herseth, who easily
won reelection last month.

Staff writers Lyndsey Layton, Allan Lengel and Debbi Wilgoren, political
researcher Zachary A. Goldfarb, staff researcher Madonna Lebling and
washingtonpost.com staff writer Chris Cillizza contributed to this report.